


All of Me

by historybudd



Series: Just a Dream [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-12
Updated: 2014-03-12
Packaged: 2018-01-15 12:08:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1304362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/historybudd/pseuds/historybudd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bae and Belle talk about Rumplestiltskin and how they can free him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All of Me

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the John Legend Song "all of me" because seriously, this song fits Rumbelle so well. I do not own Once Upon a time or the John Legend lyrics.

Bae and Belle sat in silence in front of their campfire, lost in their own thoughts about the man they both were desperate to free from the grips of the Wicked Witch. Suddenly, Bae spoke, breaking Belle's reverie. "Ya know, when we were on the Jolly Roger coming back to Storybrooke, he couldn't stop talking about you. I'd never seen him so happy and so content. I knew you had to be someone pretty amazing if you could tame the beast the way you have."

"He is no beast. He has been a man all along, he just let the magic and the power hide the man inside. That was who I saw inside him all along, the man, not the imp who sought to hide his true self from everyone because he was terrified of being hurt just like all the other times before."

Bae laughed. "He mentioned that you refused to acknowledge what everyone else did. He told me that your favorite phrase was 'You are not a monster.'" Here Bae paused, but then he continued.. "Would you like to know everything he told me?"

Belle looked thoughtfully at Bae. She did want to know. Rumplestiltskin was not here to comfort her, but his son was offering his words to her for comfort instead, and she didn't want to lose that chance at all. "Yes, please, Bae."

~~~~

_Rumplestiltskin saw his son, his Bae... Neal... leaning on the side of the ship looking out over the side lost in thought. He walked up to him. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked him._

_Bae grinned at him. Oh he would never tire of seeing his boy smile. He had been without it for three centuries, after all. "I was just thinking about Emma and Henry, actually. I hope I can fix all the wrongs that Ive done to those two over the years. I love them both...a ton."_

_Rumple gave his son a knowing look. "I know exactly what you mean, son. After all I made mistakes with you and with Belle. But you must learn from them and try to better yourself from them. Actually, I pushed Belle away just as I had with you. And then..." his voice caught in his throat from just thinking about that horrible time "...then the Queen told me that Belle had died, and my world was crushed. The only sliver of hope I still had lay in going to the world without magic and finding you. I never believed that I would ever see her again and in that moment all the regrets of all my three hundred years came crashing down on me again. All I could see was the look on your face as you slipped away from me... All I could hear were Belle's words ringing through my ears calling me a coward and telling me that all I would end up with was an empty heart and a chipped cup."_

_Bae's look of astonsihment goaded him on. "I told her my power was more important to me than her. I hurt her. I wish I could take all that back, Bae."_

_"And she forgave you after all that?"_

" _Oh, yes. She knew what I refused to ackowledge. She knew that I loved her and that I couldn't REALLY go on without her. She decided she would continue to fight for me, no matter what might happen. Clever girl." and Rumplestiltskin chuckled, thinking about his love's fiery spirit. But then his countenance grew serious once more. "She was  on her way back to me after having her own adventure. She was determined to show me just how much she cared. But the Queen got to her and stole her. She held my Beautiful Belle captive, a pawn to be thrown at me at will, to weaken me. They say love is weakness, and I believed it for a time, but then Belle came along. And finally understood that it is the exact opposite. Love isn't weakness, Love is strength. That is what Belle is to me, Son. Belle is my strength, but yet the words seem wholly inaccurate to describe everything that that woman is to me. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love her. If she were to leave now, I don't know if I would be able to live. You and she are everything to me, and without you both, I have nothing, and might as well be that poor Spinner again."_

_"I never had a problem with the poor Spinner, Papa. But really, she sounds wonderful, like she is a good influence for you. Everything you have said about her, that is how it is with Emma. I'm terrified that I will lose her. I don't want to. I already lost her once because I had been stupid and selfish. And I not only lost her, but I lost ten eleven wonderful years with our son as well. I can't let that happen again. But I don't want to push her. I want her to make her own decisions."_

" _That is a wise choice, Son. You must always let someone make their own choices, but letting them know that you are their for them isn't a bad idea either. Yes, sometimes people must stand on their own two feet, but sometimes what they need is a shoulder to lean on, to cry into, to hold."_

_"When did you realize that you were falling in love with Belle?"_

_Rumplestiltskin laughed a rich, deep laugh. His  son grinned. "Oh I fought it tooth and nail. I knew what was happening, but I fought it, fought it with all I could. I refused to let myself believe that I could be in love with such a creature as Belle. One day, I was sitting at my spinning wheel, trying to forget all the wrongs I had done to you. Belle was up on a ladder trying to pull my curtains down to let in some light. We engaged in the simple banter that was growing common for us, and she laughed at my little quips and jokes. I finally stood and walked over to where she was atop the ladder. She was having a particularly hard time getting the curtains down and asked me if I had nailed them down. I said yes and she just huffed and shook her head at me. The next thing I knew, the curtains had come undone and Belle was falling from the ladder. Before thinking I just bent my legs and held out my arms, only intent on catching her before she hit the ground. All of a sudden I was holding Belle in my arms, and I was looking into her intense blue eyes. I froze. I had no idea what to say or do. I could only stare at her. She spluttered a bit and then said thank you. I came to myself then and set her back on her feet. It was then that I knew, no matter how much I wanted to deny it, that I no longer had possession of my heart."_

_"Wow. Thats an intense story. Why didn't you just stop her fall with magic? That seems more like something you would do."_

_"I wasn't thinking at the time. In that moment, Magic didn't exist, nothing existed, only Belle. And I couldn't let her hurt herself."_

_"I'm impressed, Papa. She must be a wonderful woman if she can tame the beast inside you better than anyone else ever could."_

_Rumplestitlskin laughed. "Belle refuses to admit that there is a monster lurking in me. I think her favorite saying may very well be 'You are not a monster.' Maybe that is what helps... the fact she doesn't see the beast within, but only the man, and never fails to remind me of it."_

_His son nodded. "Yeah. I can see how that would help."_

_"I love her, Baelfire." Rumplestilskin whispered._

_Bae said nothing, but he brought his hand up to rest on his father's shoulder._

~~~~

Belle was shedding silent tears as Bae finished telling her of the conversation he had had with his father. He took her hand in his. "Don't worry, Belle. We are going to get him back. He will come back to you." 

Belle nodded. "His words... It is so like him to say all of those things. I still can't believe that he loves me. I was always just a high born young woman from a backward little kingdom. I'll never know what made him fall in love with me. I am no one special."

"That's where you are wrong. You are special. You tamed the monster, showed him he was worthy of love. You saved him. Thats what my father saw Belle. Its what he still sees. "

"Bae, All of me, loves all of him. I love his curves and edges, all his perfect imperfections. He gave his all to me. I gave my all to him. He's my end and my beginning. Even when I lose I'm winning... Cuz I am giving him all of me. And he is giving me all of him. There were so many times when I would be crying and and blubbering and I would want to hide from him so he wouldn't see how I was such a disgusting mess, but he would find me and ask me how many times he would have to tell me that even when I was crying I was beautiful."

"Yeah, that sounds like him. I promise you I will get him back to you. For now though, I think he would be very displeased with us both if you don't get any sleep. You go into the tent with Ruby and get some sleep. I'm going to go talk with Archie. See what he can tell me about Henry that only he would really know."

Belle nodded. "Goodnight, Bae."

~~~~

"Archie."

"Oh, hello, Baelfire, what  can I do for you?"

"Belle just went to sleep with Ruby. We need to talk."

Bae noticed the blush that appeared on the former cricket's face at the mention of the wolf-girl, but he chose to ignore it. "Yes, of course, what is it?"

"You and I are leaving to go rescue my father."

"W-What?"

"We can't leave him in the hands of that Witch! So you and I are going to save him. IT can only be us. IF we take any more than us, it will disturb the witch's camp that across the river and she will snatch up the dagger before you can say Christopher Columbus. So come on, we can think of our attack plan while we go."

 


End file.
